#144 Nomad Diary. 22-28 July 2023. Living at Owen's House Near Athens, Alabama. Lunch with Wes. Visit and Dinner with Samuel. Church at Vinemont. Cousin Marie and Jesse's 50th Anniversary! Truck Bodywork Repair. Travel Insurance.

Darrell and Owen (grandson turns 2 in September) Playing

Eric (our oldest son), Erin (due with baby girl in a couple weeks), and Owen

Saturday. 22. Darrell made pancakes today for everyone: Owen and his parents Eric and Erin, and us. We had a large bowl of blackberries and real maple syrup of course! We enjoyed the morning sweet meal together. I contacted our single sons who live in the area to see about a visit or lunch today. Wes, our second son, lives in an apartment in Huntsville and set up lunch with us at Jamos Cafe. We met him there and had greek food and a nice visit together. From there we went to Samuel’s house and visited for a while. 

We went here on Sunday. 

Darrell's Cousin Marie and Husband Jesse at Their House in Nauvoo, Alabama. Celebrating 50 Years of Marriage!

Sunday. 23. Darrell and I drove to Vinemont church of Christ today to worship with the group and especially our friends Alton and Diana Bailey. We met them at an online Bible study with the church in Tunbridge Wells, England! We’ve enjoyed getting to know them in person. They are in their 70’s. Alton is a Vietnam vet, a retired High School Teacher, and a preacher. It was a treat to get to see them again today, and also to meet so many of the members at Vinemont. After worship we were invited to their annual potluck. This gave us time to have more conversations with some of the members, and have a delicious meal too!

Eric and Owen Playing

Erin and Owen on a Walk Around Their Neighborhood

Darrell and Owen Watching Roof Tiles Unloaded. Owen's Hat was Given to Him by This Delivery Man in the Summer

Owen Liked My Soup

Darrell is Resting His Eyes! lol.

The Baby Moniter with Darrell's Legs as He Rocks Owen for Bed. It's the Songs He's Singing that I Really Loved!

Monday. 24. Today I go to Stretch Zone and get a session of stretching as my therapy for this month. I make an appointment for next week. I picked up paperwork at a doctor office in Athens to initiate changing my Madison doctor to one in Athens. We got a rental car and turned our truck in for bodywork from the fender bender from last December in Ft. Lauderdale. Hopefully we get the truck back by Friday, but we don’t know yet. Darrell repaired some concrete in Eric’s driveway. He’s also been helping with burning some raked up pine leaves in the back yard. I’ve done a little weeding in the front of the house. There are always chores and upkeep with a house and we are just trying to help out as we can.

Tuesday. 25. Owen fell off the chair in his bedroom backwards against the wall. Eric and Darrell loaded him up to go to a children’s emergency clinic. They were back in an hour with his wrist wrapped and an xray of his broken wrist. The doc referred him to orthopedic for a cast tomorrow since it’s already 5pm. Darrell and I go to Samuel’s house for dinner. He has prepared chicken wings for us and I bring okra and cauliflower. We have a nice visit.

Wednesday. 26. Owen has an afternoon appointment for his wrist, and Darrell will go as the second pair of hands because this little boy is super comfy with him and prefers his care to mine. I called my gut doctor and got an appointment for next week because it’s been a year and a half and I’m thankful that they got me in for a reassessment. We found out today that the man we prayed for at church in Michigan and here in Madison, Alabama died. He was 64. People we met at both churches where he had been a member told us good things about him. I’m sad for his girlfriend and his grown kids. He got sick and died in 3 weeks. We aren’t guaranteed a life we expect. I’m sure he knew that. He was living his life in love from the stories of his family.

Owen got a wrist stabilizer, not a cast! yay!

Thursday. 27. Eric and Erin are taking a “babymoon” for two nights away before the new baby comes in a couple of weeks. Darrell and I are here to be with Owen while they are away. Owen loves being with Darrell. When Eric and Erin said goodbye around 3pm, Owen looked at them and was so ok with it. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and dinner together with Owen. Darrell did the bedtime routine. Today and several days in a row here it is scorching hot in the high 90’s! We spend a lot of time inside in air conditioning and just take short walks. 

Friday. 28. We are at Eric and Erin’s house and staying with Owen our grandson while they are away for 2 nights. We take several walks around the neighborhood. I go to the grocery. We have nice meals together. Dinner is fish tacos, one of our favorites. Darrell is the preferred adult for Owen. While hanging out, I did a little cleaning, a little cooking, and plenty of reading. I also coordinated a meet up next week with a friend of a friend who is interested in housesitting! The most remarkable item is the weather. It got up to 96 degrees today! We stay in as much as possible and drink fluids. 

Nomad Notes. This past week I have had some thoughts about how this way of nomad living is feeling more ‘normal’ to me. I feel like change in my perspective is growing and expanding into this way we are living on the road. We are here enjoying our family time and a few weeks of rest here in Alabama. Darrell has been to the doctor and dentist. I have made one doc appointment for next week and also have some stretch therapy appointments. I plan to return my broken dentures that were made here in December with a letter about what has happened and asking for compensation for this broken product. All of this sprinkled in with babysitting and visiting friends and family. Being here through the month of August seems relaxing and at the same time busy with our to-do’s. 

Travel Insurance: We went over details on insurance policies that we currently have so that we could know what we are paying for and what we still need to have coverage for. We have credit cards that carry policies for rental cars that are sufficient. We have flexible health insurance that covers us in foreign countries. Health insurance is a confusing and complex subject to me. We have the benefit that Darrell retired from the US government, and this gives him the option to purchase health insurance from the same companies that cover the State department employees around the world. So we are in our second year with a company and policy that allows us to get treated anywhere in the world and to submit our claims. 

What we don’t have yet is medical evacuation and repatriation insurance. So we looked up online what kinds of policies exist and what exactly we are wanting. Darrell came up with a link to a service that isn’t an insurance carrier at all. It’s Medjet. A company that sells memberships to allow for this rare but plausible issue of needing to be medically evacuated from a foreign country. The company is based in Birmingham, Alabama and has an informative website and fabulous service that seems to fill our need with a 365 day coverage, longer than any travel policies and very specific and cost effective for us.